Aleph

Aleph

Also known as

Japanese Name

Romaji

First Appearance

Affiliation

Alignment

Law (SMTIVA)

Aleph is the default name of the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei II. He is also known under the alias of Hawk.

At the beginning of the game, he is presented to the player as a Gladiator without any recollection of his past, or even who he actually is; only learning much later of his predetermined role as humanity's Messiah, and of his right to make the fatidical choice between welcoming this lawful destiny, become an agent of the demons, or take neither path, choosing his own future by himself.

As usual for male protagonists in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, Aleph lacks the power to cast magic-based techniques, but compensates with his unique ability to recruit and summon demons through his Arm Terminal. In addition, he can also wield swords and guns. Aleph is also capable of performing sword fusion, a process which enables him to strengthen his swords to grant him increased power.

Aleph is introduced in the story with the name of "Hawk," a trainee under Okamoto's guidance. He was saved by Okamoto from being killed by demons that ambushed him while he was on what Okamoto referred to as a "drunken stupor" (presumed to be a consequence of his, at the time, fresh amnesic state). As the owner of a fighting gym, Okamoto, impressed by the young man's abilities, took him under his wing and trained him to be a Gladiator, so that one day he would become a Champion in Valhalla's Colosseum, which would make both of them achieve citizenship in the Center, a privileged district of the city, leaving their past lives behind them.

"Hawk" is depicted as a prodigy. Not only he holds the highest score ever achieved in a Virtual Battler, but "literally went through it unscathed," according to Okamoto. He is also a contender, and one of the two finalists of the Colosseum's most recent tournament, and is expected to fight Red Bear, a warrior in a gym owned by Okamoto's rival in the business, Haneda.

One day, while furiously training in the Virtual Battler of the area for the upcoming match, Hawk is surprised by the sudden appearance of a strange man in a wheelchair. He predicts that a great calamity will soon befall the city and, as such, he has been patiently awaiting for the appearances of strong warriors at the various public Virtual Battlers scattered through town, so that he could be able to give them what he calls a "Demon Summoning Program"; stating that, if humanity doesn't learn how to use the power of the demons as their own, they will inevitably be destroyed by it. Confused, Hawk accepts his offer, uploading the mysterious program into his Arm Terminal.

The day of the fight then finally arrives, but Hawk finds himself suffering from multiple "flashes" of enigmatic scenes that he can't clearly remember: all of them depicting a man in a suit, along with various other individuals preserved nude inside strange laboratory tubes. This phenomenon, however, turns out to be a problem when the visions start to affect Hawk right in the middle of his battle against Red Bear. He does manage to achieve victory in the end, and is crowned as the new Champion of Valhalla's Colosseum.

After the tournament, Hawk and Okamoto left the main town of Valhalla, and started living in Haneda's old gym (now under Okamoto's management). But one day, they receive an unexpected visit from a resident of the Center, a woman named Hiroko, who requires the help of the "new champion" in order to find the whereabouts of a "missing young boy." She explains to them the top-secret details of an "accident" in the Center: an explosion that happened six months before the events of the game and that, supposedly, was set up by two scientists named Mekata and Hanada.

According to her, Hanada is hiding in a mansion which belongs to the governess of Valhalla, a woman who attends only by the title of "Madam." Entrance to the mansion is very strict, but the Madam is known for summoning recent champions of the tournaments in order to congratulate them for their victory; so Hiroko's plan is to accompany Hawk, in order for her to gain entrance to the heavily guarded building, and find clues about the location of Hanada.

However, once there, the Madam explains that she too needs Hawk's help, as she is also in search of Hanada, who escaped from her estate, and is planning to open a portal to the Abyss, the demon world, so that demons can come to the human world and cause disaster. Without much of a choice, and guided by Madam's "pet demon," a powerful Cerberus, Hawk, along with Hiroko, travels to the slum districts of Valhalla, in pursuit of Hanada, so that they can both stop him.

Through Cerberus' heightened senses, Hanada is quickly found, but in his quest of perfecting his research without any restraints, his mind has gone mad with power: using four specials "dolls," and a magical circle, he successfully managed to open a gate to the Abyss, summoning from there a demon named Mercurius, whom he orders to kill Hawk and Hiroko. The demon, however, is too powerful for the scientist alone to control, and he ends up murdered by him, after the latter ignored his commands.

Finally taking care of the rampaging demon, Hawk and Hiroko report their findings back to the Madam, but in her mansion, someone called Zayin has been waiting for them. A representative of the Center, Zayin states that he has been looking for Hawk for a long time, revealing his true name to be "Aleph," and that he was also a resident of the Center all along. Zayin then takes both Aleph and Hiroko back to the Center's headquarters, where they are greeted by The Center's Bishop, who tells Aleph that his memories were erased by Mekata, right after he was kidnapped from the Center. He says Aleph is, in fact, none other than the "Messiah": God's chosen savior, whose coming was foretold by John in the Book of Revelations, and that Tokyo Millennium needs him in order to guide the people towards the construction of the Millennium Kingdom, an age where, according to him, humanity would find true everlasting peace under the watch of God.

The Bishop then introduces Aleph to a woman named Beth, the one who he claims was sent by God with the mission of being the "perfect partner" for the Messiah. Beth vows to be alongside Aleph forever, and then the two are sent on various tasks by the Bishop to save the city from destruction by the hands of the great demons who are wrecking havoc: King Frost, with his ice magic, and a Basilisk, who is claiming the lives of the innocents with a deadly toxin, are terrorizing the Holytown district of Tokyo Millennium.

Not only that, they also have to take care of Betelgeuse, a demon who has appeared in the Factory district (taking over the site of a large excavation and mining project), and of several rampaging Demi-Nandis, which the Center breeds in the farming areas of that same district for food. While dealing with these multiple menaces, the duo also starts noticing that earthquakes are becoming more and more frequent, and that the workers at the Factory are all behaving rather suspiciously...

After successfully fending off the demons' onslaught, Aleph and Beth report back to the Center, where Zayin is waiting for them. He suggests that Aleph visit Gimmel in the Arcadia area, hoping that the trip would help make his memory a bit clearer. But once there, he and Beth are faced with a world completely different from the one outside: there are no demons, luxurious houses and great trees fill the landscape, and all the ones who reside there are happy. Finally meeting Gimmel, he tells them that he was put in charge of Arcadia right after Aleph went missing, building it into a prototype version of the Millennium Kingdom that Millennium wants to build; and that, so far, the project has been a complete success.

Gimmel then requests that the two go back to the Center and report to Zayin. However, what they find there is a situation of utter chaos: demons managed to break into the Center, and a man who the Bishop refers to as the "Anti-Messiah" is claiming to the populace that he is the true Messiah, and not Aleph. As such, Aleph and Beth are sent on a last mission in order to intercept the Anti-Messiah's activities, who they then trace all the way back to Valhalla's Colosseum, discovering that he is named Daleth, and that he's challenging Aleph to a duel, as to find out who out of them is the true savior from the prophecy.

Nonetheless, in the ensuing battle, Daleth manages to "unleash a brutally powerful attack" that ends up putting Aleph into a corner. Then, just when the winner of the fight seemed obvious, Beth dives in front of Daleth's finishing strike, saving Aleph from certain death at the cost of her own life. Seeing this, Aleph recovers, finally beating Daleth for good, before sparing his life, as to honor Beth's dying wish that both of the young men survive the ordeal. As she closes her eyes, quietly drawing her last breaths, Daleth escapes, and the Center's Bishop, guiding a crowd of believers into the arena, cry out to the people that Aleph is indeed God's savior, and thus, the "true" Messiah.

After the sad turn of events that unfolded in the Colosseum's arena, a young little boy comes to Aleph, saying that "a funny-looking old man" told him to pass a message onto him. Reading the paper, Aleph finds out that it was delivered by none other than Mekata himself (one of the fugitive scientists that once worked for the Center). Following the memo's instructions to meet him in the slums of Valhalla, Aleph discovers that Mekata is the "man in the suit" that appeared in the strange dreams he had before.

The scientist says that he is willing to tell Aleph exactly who he is, and why his memories are gone ... but he has a demand: Aleph must go to the Factory, and free Hiroko, who was imprisoned by the Center for her actions earlier in the game. Aleph agrees to cooperate with him, but security in the Factory is tough, and the holding cells are maintained in a place separated from the rest of the area, so Mekata explains that Aleph will need to go through a secret passage through the Underworld if he wishes to succeed in his rescue. Once there, Aleph is ambushed by Daleth, who is demanding a rematch: he is once again defeated however, and while fleeing, drops an item called "Mars Pillar" that Aleph quickly retrieves.

While exploring the Underworld's dungeons, guarded by the demon Janus, Aleph meets and befriends a little demon girl named Nadja, who seems to develop some kind of "innocent crush" on him. As his temporary minion, she helps Aleph through the mazes, guiding him to the labor camp's location, where they finally find Hiroko's cell, which is being guarded by Zayin himself. After engaging the Temple Knight in combat, Zayin, moved by Aleph's resolution, reveals that even he is starting to have second thoughts about the Center's immoral methods of enforcing its laws, deciding to leave Hiroko's fate under the care of Aleph, but not before alerting him that she's "not in her right mind."

It's only after entering Hiroko's cell however, that Aleph discovers what he truly meant: Hiroko is obviously not sane, and won't leave with him. Nadja, seeing Aleph's desperate efforts to save his friend, ends interpreting this as a sign of love, deciding to fuse herself with Hiroko, in order to heal her of the Center's brainwashing; stating that, by becoming part of Hiroko, Aleph would also love her.

Strengthened by Nadja's power, Hiroko comes back to her usual self, fleeing from the labor camp, along with Aleph, as both of them decide to finally meet Mekata, in order for him to reveal the truth to them about everything that is happening. But, once in Valhalla, they once again meet with Zayin, and are shocked to learn that the Center has dispatched a gargantuan demon named Abaddon to swallow up all of Valhalla. Utterly disgusted by the Center's actions, Zayin, labeled as a traitor, stages a revolt, taking over the local broadcasting on Millennium's News Network and informing the people about the true purposes of the Center: according to him, the world of the Millennium Kingdom that the Center wants to create is a reality only for a limited number of selected people.

The ones who are not chosen are cruelly cast aside, just like the citizens of Valhalla (who chose the pleasures of a free life over servitude under the Center's commandments). Once the "wheat has been separated from the chaff," Millennium will be destroyed, exactly like Valhalla was. Finally, Zayin reveals that the Factory is nothing more than a concentration camp, where people are forced to work against their will. By exposing the true agenda of the Center to the people, Zayin hopes to incite them into action, so that they can together stop the machinations of the Center, and fix the corrupted system that is governing Tokyo Millennium.

Divided by doubt on which side to align themselves with, Aleph and Hiroko befriend a mysterious blonde man on Holytown's bar, who introduces himself as Louis Cyphre. According to him, Abaddon's body can be found hiding somewhere in the Underworld, far below the depths of Tokyo Millennium, and the reach of the Center's influence. Hearing this, they decide to travel once again there, passing through the multiple different layers of the underground ruins of what was once the original metropolis of Tokyo, encountering its various residents and gradually discovering how truly grim is the way the Center treats those who are not considered worthy in their eyes.

First, they have to fight Daleth once again, now in the dungeons of the sunken city of Shinjuku. Unbeknownst to them, Daleth has come up with a new plan to use a love potion on Aleph (manufactured by a prankster Fairy named Puck) in order to make him fall in love with Hanoun (a timid fairy girl who is the owner of a drug shop in the area), which Daleth hopes will put his enemy out of commission once and for all. The plan backfires however, and the love potion ends up hitting Hiroko instead, who then starts to comically chase Daleth around.

After Aleph forces Puck to give him the "Infidelily Sap," and is helped by Oberon (the king of the faeries, and the benevolent ruler of Shinjuku) to break the spell on Hiroko, Daleth is the next one to suffer from the effects of the sap, falling deeply in love with Hanoun (who, had loved him from the very beginning). After these events, Daleth finally abandons his grudge on Aleph, deciding to live in Shinjuku alongside Hanoun, in order to help the fairies there make their lives easier. He also explains that the "Mars Pillar" Aleph picked up in one of their previous battles is, in fact, one of the seven ancient artifacts needed to open a passage to the Abyss. He gives them a hint of where they can find the next Pillar, and then they leave, resuming their exploration of the Underworld.

Next stop is Akasaka, a city under the dominion of the Jirae, hardworking demons (and even some humans) who earn a living by excavating precious weapons and other items from ages past in a nearby site, and selling them to clients of the surface. Lastly, Aleph and Hiroko reach the town of Roppongi, an area which has become the last refuge of the "mutant community," a group of humans who were grotesquely disfigured by the toxic radiations that affected the Earth after the nuclear war, and were cast out by the Center for this, forced to forever live out of the reach of the sunlight.

After meeting the Mutant Elder and hearing his story, Aleph and Hiroko are then introduced to Hiruko, who serves as an attendant to the powerful guardian of Tokyo, Taira no Masakado. Desperate to amend his past mistakes, where he foolishly betrayed the Amatsukami clan of Japanese gods (and Masakado himself) when he allowed the Kunitsukami, allied with the Hebrew God, to defeat and imprison them, Hiruko begs Aleph to retrieve his master's body parts, which were torn asunder when he tried to mediate the conflict between the two opposing groups, and were taken away by the Kunitsukami not long after they were equally sealed away by the same gods they had aligned themselves with before.

With the help of Hiruko, the doors of different shrines scattered through the Underworld are opened: there, Aleph and Hiroko meet some of the Kunitsukami, who after fighting or being helped by him, grant the duo the parts of Masakado's body they were holding. Then, after discovering the location of Masakado's missing head (which was in possession of a digger in Holytown unaware of its true value), and fusing it all together with Masakado's soul (that Hiruko had had with him all along), Aleph and Hiroko finally revive Masakado, who, after thanking them, proceeds to teleport himself, and Hiruko, to a sealed grotto in the Underworld, where the Amatsukami are being held.

Not wielding the great strength he once had, a temporary consequence of the rebirth process, Masakado's current power is unable to let him do anything more than just removing the giant boulder that was put in the way of the cave's entrance; as such, Aleph and Hiroko are the only ones who can free the gods of the Amatsukami now. Once they manage to do it, they are deeply thanked by both Hiruko and the sun goddess Amaterasu herself. Leaving for the Diamond Realm, a celestial plane where the Amatsukami intend to heal their wounds, Aleph and Hiroko are left once again from where they started. But this time, they have made up their minds: they shall go back to Holytown, join Zayin in his quest for true justice, and storm the Center's headquarters once and for all.

Once reunited with Zayin, he explains to them that his first priority is the rescue of the innocent workers who, according to him, are being forced to labor in the Factory area against their wills. They all rush to the camps, but are perplexed to find out that none of the workers, some of which are even children, want to leave their cells (much like Hiroko once did), indifferent to the inhuman conditions they have been toiling under all this time. Knowing that something is clearly wrong, Zayin suggests that they invade the Factory's watchtower, whose last floor was being guarded by the demon Belphegor, who almost succeeds in mortally wounding Zayin.

After Aleph and Hiroko finish off Belphegor, they proceed to uncover the Factory's disturbingly dark secret: in the top of the tower, a demon woman named Siren is singing a sorrowful melody which is hypnotizing the laborers into mindlessly working till utter exhaustion and death on the fields. They discover, however, that she wasn’t to blame for her actions; her music was the only way to mourn her lost lover, whom she was taken away from by the Center’s men. Aleph and Hiroko decide to finish what Hanada once started: with the dolls he once utilized in their hands, along with another one that wasn't originally in his possession (and was the main reason for the failure of the ritual at the slums of Valhalla), they successfully manage to open a gate that leads directly into the Abyss, where they start looking for Siren's long lost lover, hoping that by reuniting the couple, she would stop her singing.

However, in the middle of their search in the plains of the Abyss, Aleph and Hiroko experience a bizarre phenomenon: a "spacial distortion" of sorts teleports them into the innards of a mysterious building where, on separated chambers, they find people tied to metallic chairs, their brains plugged into computers. Further investigating the upper floors, they are shocked to discover the one responsible for the disgusting state of those people was none other than Gimmel, the real Gimmel.

He reveals to them that the Arcadia that Aleph witnessed before was nothing more than the fabrication of virtual reality, but simply an illusion under his control. Aware that Gimmel would not let them leave that place alive, and now that they knew the truth about his fake utopia, the two engage him in battle, where Gimmel is killed. His false world's future is up for decision, with Aleph either destroying the computer and killing everyone hooked up to it, putting in his name as the new Savior, or simply leaving it be.

In the end, Aleph and Hiroko tracks down the location of Petersen, Siren's lover. Bringing him to Tokyo Millennium through the same portal they once came from, they finally reunite him with the singing Siren. The couple thanks both Aleph and Hiroko for their help and kindness before traveling back to the Abyss, which makes the spell that once brainwashed the laborers to dissolve itself; now, they are truly free. Nevertheless, the group isn't awarded with much time for celebrations, hearing through the television broadcastings on Holytown that the Center's bishop decided to adopt more drastic measures to deal with Zayin's coup: he states that if Zayin doesn't submit himself to the Center immediately, they will cut out Holytown's air supply, mercilessly killing everyone who lives in that area.

Zayin doesn't intend to give himself in so easily though, heading to the Center's headquarters not to surrender, but to fight them head-on. Making their ways through the Center's corridors, Aleph, Hiroko and Zayin finally found themselves before the gates of the Center's secret chambers, which sheltered their true mysterious leaders: an enigmatic group only known as "The Four Elders." Still, appearances can be deceiving, with the assembly of senators quickly showing a glimpse of their inhuman nature by turning the rebellious Zayin into a stone slab with their ferocious supernatural powers. Seeing this, it is uncovered to Aleph and Hiroko, who rushed to his rescue, the true identities of the Elders as, in fact, archangels of God all along; three of them, Michael, Raphael and Uriel, facing the heroes in furious battles, all being scathingly defeated and killed by them.

Notwithstanding, the danger has not yet passed: "God" himself appears this time, in order to exact retribution on Aleph and Hiroko for killing his servants. After an arduous and difficult battle, however, they still manage to emerge triumphant, albeit with great effort. Exiting the chambers, the last Elder then appears in front of Aleph and Hiroko, revealing herself as the last seraphim, Gabriel. According to her, the archangels were all commanded in the past by the "real" God to look after the building of Tokyo Millennium, being instructed by him to wait for the savior that he would one day send to them. However, the government of the city, under their control, became so irreversibly corrupted, turning into nothing more than a tool to control and enslave humanity, that it simply could not shelter a Messiah of the One God as to lead the people. Unable to wait any longer, the three fallen seraphim tried to fabricate their own Messiah, a heretic pursuit that led them astray from the true will of God, who abandoned them in return.

Now Gabriel, who separated herself from them by the orders of God, is the only archangel remaining. She uses her magical powers to restore Zayin back to normal, and tells Aleph and Hiroko that he is awaiting for them in the Center's control room, before disappearing to destinations unknown.

Temporary appointed as the responsible for directing the Center's activities, Zayin once again requests Aleph and Hiroko's help, stating that they must investigate a strange anomaly that their computers have detected near the area of Holytown. Once there, they are surprised to find out that a strange "drill-like" tower has risen from the surface, and that its appearance seems to be affecting the civilians in even more bizarre ways: their natural energies, their Magnetite, is seemingly being absorbed by the enigmatic spinning obelisk, fainting and disorientation being only the primordial symptoms of what could become lethal occurrences. Reporting their findings back to Zayin, he deduces that the object is actually the tail of an even larger demon, whose body, he concludes, must be dwelling in the Abyss for such a thing to be possible. Thus, Aleph and Hiroko decide to once again travel to the demon world, as to find out exactly what is going on.

However, it seems that the use of the gate created by the right positioning of the four dolls in a specific place and order is only capable of sending it's invokers into one of the various different segments of the Abyss, the Tiphereth district, and that Aleph and Hiroko will need to find an alternative way to get to the Abyss if they want to fully explore it. To do so, they start collecting the remaining "pillars" that Daleth once mentioned in their trip to Shinjuku: by gathering the remaining six artifacts, and putting them in their respective altars (which are spread among the Underworld), Aleph and Hiroko succeed in summoning a true portal which finally sends them both into the plains of Yesod, in the demon world, where they soon discover that a demon called Moloch, following direct orders from the ruler of the Abyss, Lucifer, is the one responsible for the predicament the citizens of Holytown are currently facing. The reasons as to why Lucifer would want to assimilate the magnetite energies from the residents of the surface remain yet unknown.

After investigating the near town and gathering more information, Aleph and Hiroko discover that the way to Tiphereth is sealed, and that the passage to the next area is being guarded by a demon called Hecate which, apparently, as the moon goddess, becomes invincible when the moon is in any phase but lightless. By defeating her, they make their way into two new areas: Netzach and Hod. Since they were told that the doors to the Tiphereth area were locked by two keys in possession of the rulers of Netzach and Hod, those are consequently their new destinations.

At this point, it's up to the player to decide which zone he wishes to visit first: if Hod is chosen, Aleph and Hiroko must face Tiamat, a demoness of great power, told by Lucifer himself not to underestimate them. If Netzach is chosen however, Aleph and Hiroko must defeat Crowley, a human wizard who is obsessed with the practice of Sabbaths (orgies whose goal is the gathering of sexual energy for the purpose of summoning demons). When both of them are taken care of, Aleph and Hiroko finally open the gates which were blocking the entrance to Tiphereth, connecting the four areas once again through the Yetzirah Corridor.

Once in Tiphereth, Aleph and Hiroko are suddenly approached by a demon messenger called Gemori, who works for Lucifer, and is there under his command in order to bring Aleph before her master, in Kether (the final zone in which the Abyss is divided). In Kether Castle, the personal palace where Lucifer and his minions dwell, Aleph and Hiroko find out that Louis Cypher was Lucifer’s human guise all along, who then reveals to them that the God they defeated at the Elder's chambers in the Center was nothing more than a "false" "God"; the product of the raw faith of the fallen seraphim that was so monstrously strong, and of minds so hopelessly twisted, that it actually managed to give life to a fake YHVH.

Confused about the mysterious source of Aleph's unnatural power, Lucifer is considering the possibility that Aleph may be, in fact, the reincarnation of Satan, God's supreme instrument of judgement, punishment and retribution; and that is why he has summoned Aleph into his presence, so that he could ascertain his suspicions by directly seeing him. Now face to face with him, Lucifer is relieved when he reaches the conclusion that Aleph is not Satan. But, according to him, several signs are still indicating that Satan's revival is only a matter of time, particularly the fact that Seth is starting to awaken. He tells them that Seth is one of the "two halves" of Satan, imprisoned on a temple located in the realm of Tiphereth, and under the effects of a deep slumber inflicted by God himself, so that he could awaken only when it came the day that Satan would be once again needed.

Satan, Lucifer states, is a tool of God's wrath: if he is revived, he will wipe out all the human race from the face of the Earth, not even sparing the residents of the Underworld, or from the Abyss, from complete extermination, and that is why Lucifer wishes to fight against Satan in one last battle to the death, so that he can protect his people. Nevertheless, Lucifer isn't confident that he can win against Satan alone, and that is why he desires the aid of Aleph. He says that if he and Hiroko truly wish to form an alliance with him, and the demon-kind, they must reach Kether Castle once again, but without the escort of Gemori this time; and, of course, by their own volition and desire to whole heartedly join him and his cause.

Gemori then takes Aleph and Hiroko back to Tiphereth, where they are almost immediately faced with another unexpected meeting: Gabriel herself is in the Abyss, and she says that Zayin wishes to see them. She transports them to a place called "Eden," a garden located at the very top of the Center's headquarters and that, according to her, was made in the same way as the paradise of old. There, the group is reunited with Zayin, who is aware about their recent audience with Lucifer in Kether Castle.

He states that Lucifer's aim is nothing but to prevent the humans from attaining peace, and that is by destroying Tokyo Millennium that he intents to achieve this goal. Zayin indeed acknowledges the undeniable fact that the previous government that administrated the Center was truly rotten to the core, but he still vehemently insists that, in the end, it was thanks to Millennium that humanity managed to survive this long in this demon infested world, and as such, he makes to the two a proposition of his own: Zayin wants Aleph and Hiroko on his side once again, so that the three of them could kill Lucifer, rebuild Millennium, and work together towards the building of a true Millennium Kingdom.

From here, Aleph must make a decision that will lead him and Hiroko on a path with no possible return: he can either join Lucifer in his quest to free humanity of the tyranny and submission of a world of suffocating order ... or he can join Zayin and Gabriel in their pursuit of ridding the world of the prince of darkness and his minions, in order to leave its fate once again under the jurisdiction of God's commands.

Aleph appears during the DLC quest "Messiahs in the Diamond Realm." Nanashi encounters and rescues him in the northwest quadrant of the Diamond Realm, and helps him fend off a horde of Law demons. Like the other Messiahs, Aleph is confused at his location, with the last thing he remembers being his own death when the Megiddo Ark fired. He heads off to meet with En no Ozuno at the entrance, and later joins the party as they battle with Stephen.

The word Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, meaning bull or ox, and has many associations with it, its Tarot card being the Fool (some say Magician), its color being a pale yellow, physical correspondence being breath, planetary wise its associated with the sun, and its symbolism is willpower.

On the other hand, Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, is derived from Aleph.

Then there is the Tree of life in the Kabbalah. Aleph is the name of the Nexus between Chokmah and Kether, Aleph being "The Fiery inteligence."

While physically an adult, Aleph is he is in fact the youngest protagonist in the main Shin Megami Tensei series, possibly not even 10 years old, since his body age was artificially accelerated right after he was born to that of a full grown adult.[1]